Outlook reminders one of the most used functions in Outlook. No wonder, with all of our busy schedules, we need to be reminded of upcoming tasks and appointments. Without reminders, we may just go along our way, completely forgetting we had a business meeting to attend, school function or task to complete.

Perhaps the necessity of this function and how frequently it is used is why we received so many questions on how to resolve issues as well how to customize reminders. In fact, reminder questions are often our most frequently asked questions -- and they can often be answered by a visit to the back issue pages of OutlookPower.

This week, I'm going to do a round-up of the questions we're often asked. OutlookPower readers Madeline, Janet, and Sheila recently wrote about reminders not dismissing or appearing for past appointments:

• Madeline Balmaceda writes: "Outlook calendar reminders not working properly. They're giving reminders for past appoints or will not dismiss. Please help!"

• Janet Leopold tells us: "Outlook calendar reminders not working properly. They're giving reminders for past appointments or will not dismiss. I am running Outlook 2000 SP-3, 9.0.0.6627."

• Sheila Marcella clocks in with her own reminder question: "Please advise... my re-occurring pop-up reminders keep popping up.. even if I hit dismiss the pop-ups keep reminding me... also it will not remind me at the designated time... it will pop up the next day or the following day after... version: 2000 sp-3."

Then there's the classic question of reminders not appearing at all. OutlookPower readers Rodney and Tony had similar questions: